


dark side of the morning

by Anonymous



Series: chasing after time [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Gen, Modern AU, References to Drugs, i never know how to tag, this is basically then Gifted AU of the Star Wars universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 10:44:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18737452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: sunlight and shrieks and Anakin's lips on her cheek-a stylistic one shot set in a Modern AU/Gifted AU in which Anakin Skywalker is the smartest kid alive and that is his downfall





	dark side of the morning

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from “It Ain’t Me” by Kygo and Selena Gomez.
> 
> Also, Anakin and Padmé are only two years apart in this AU. Yeah.

the room is freezing.

the hotel room overlooks the water. she keeps the window open. 

-

(she remembers burning.

he was a star, big and bright and powerful that it hurt to look at him and it _ached_ to be near him

and she would stand stand stand beside him,

forever)

-

(she winds her hand in his, fingers streaming in his spaces, and he. he jolts)

-

he took what he wanted and she let him.

 _anything, anything_ , she whispered 

day in, day in

she’d give him anything

(he was hungry for everything, hungry and aching and _starving_ and—)

-

(this isn’t—this was—

this isn’t what she wanted. she wanted _him_ )

 

“i just…” the phone line keeps blinking. she closes her eyes. they’re dry. dry because it’s 3 in the morning and she’s spent all her tears for tonight. “it’s been six months. _please_ , Anakin.”

-

“please!” 

this was too much, oh _god_ , this was too much—

“Anakin, you’re breaking my heart!”

and he turns to look at her, look without seeing her, eyes glowing ember red

she can’t swallow—

-

they’re sitting on the porch step and her lips are stained cherry red

(her teeth still white, never red. she was too padme for that)

and he’s staring at her mouth, her mouth kissing the popsicle, and the syrup drips and suddenly—

.

“you shouldn’t have done that” she tells him, eyes wide.

he shrugs, unabashed and glowing. “i wanted to.”

-

(ferocious sunlight at the back of his neck and cracked lips on his forehead

“i love you, no matter what they do, i love you, i do i do i do”)

-

“Ben won’t like it.”

“when i was with mom,” he says, pale eyes glaring out into the street, “there were certain ways of showing someone you loved them. that was one.”

“i don’t think you understand how you love me, Ani.”

-

(long shadows that call themselves saviors,

whispers in his ear—

“i love you, i do i do i do”)

-

he looks at her. dark eyes still wide. 

“i think i do.”

-

(“it hurts.”

“then stop touching it.”

“ben, it hurts—”

“what did i just say.”

but he puts his hand underneath the faucet, and Ben pretends not to see Anakin’s look in the corner of his eye. 

(“he can be great,” the professor says, voice taking up the small office. he peers closely at Ben. “provided he’s given the tools to succeed.

Ben understands.)

Anakin doesn’t get it. Anakin lays his head against Ben’s hip, because he’s nine and it hurts and—

Ben moves away.)

-

(she doesn’t know what he’s on. she’s dragging him into the shower, so different from an earlier point in their marriage. he keeps slipping because he’s not cognizant and so she holds him up. he towers over her and she’s not strong enough to keep him standing but she holds him up. the water is beating against his skin, she’s still in her jeans. he’s slipping, the shower is steaming hot but she feels cold and the water is on her face is—it’s—

“oh Ani.”

she’s crying.)

-

“What did you do to him?!” she screams. and this isn’t the calm representative he knows, serene and immovable. she barely knows herself right now, all she knows is that she is here _and Anakin isn’t_

Ben blinks at the crack in her voice, façade shattering for a brief instant and oh—

(s tu tt e r)

—he is hurt. 

“nothing,” he says after a moment, voice too thick to be diplomatic. “i—” he cuts himself off.

 

(“do you think Watto will let my mom go?”

a high pitched voice, young. annoying. a frown mars his brow, he doesn’t like kids, he said no kids—)

 

(dashing down the sidewalk, concrete burning his feet—

“shit, shit!”

why did he have to get ice cream, of all things? and why did he agree to it?

“wait, i think i can—” and Anakin is off in a burst of speed, moments before Ben’s protest can rise and die in his throat.

Anakin was so far, so ahead of him.)

-

(“I HATE YOU!”

“NO, YOU DON’T! YOU HATE YOURSELF!” 

Anakin screams and throws the last trinket the professor had given him. it shatters behind Ben and he doesn’t move. the ten year old sobs openly now, hands flailing out in fists one instant and the next curling into his chest. 

Ben swallows.

he still throws the college packet onto the desk, and the action snaps through the room. “And you can keep hating yourself until you sit down and FINISH IT!”)

 

-

(“he will be the best. he has an unparalleled mind. don’t let him stop.”)

-

(“this entire world just wants to use me! Ben, LOOK AT ME!”)

-

(“he has me.”

“people don’t fix other people, Padme.”

“yes, they do. people can have compassion and compassion makes anything possible!”)

-

(“i love you, no matter what they do, i do i do i do”)

-

“Ani, **_please_**!”

he pushes her away. it feels like a limb has been wrenched from the both of them. he pushes her away and he begins to cry at the same time. 

-

(“go with them, Ani. they’ll keep you safe.”

“wait! mom!”

“go. please.”)

 

(do you suppose he ever forgave himself for that?

i don’t. i don’t think he ever has. i don’t think he ever will.)

-

padme hits the door. the lock chain bites into her head, whipping around. she sees stars and it snakes down her neck.

and she’s reminded of the necklace he bought her on her seventeenth birthday—

-

(sunlight and shrieks and anakin’s lips on her cheek)

“i love you, angel”)

(love, love, _love_ )

-

from the look in his eyes, she knows he can remember it too.

-

he took what he wanted and she let him.

 _anything, anything_ , she whispered 

day in, day in

she’d give him anything

(he was hungry for everything, hungry and aching and _starving_ and—)

 

(padme had never known what it was like to be hungry

but he made her feel filled, like she never knew was empty for something until he was there and he _burned_ but she felt alive, alive for one goddamn moment and she would laugh with the burning, burn alive for all she cared, she had him, _him him him_ )

-

the room is freezing.

-

“please. i just…i want to know you’re okay.”

the sun peeks over the horizon.

the phone line goes dead.

**Author's Note:**

> basically Anakin is a supremely gifted child who folks might think solve a Millennium Prize problem. Ben is his legal guardian (same circumstances as before, Qui-Gon died) and gets advice to push Anakin to “reach his potential.”  
> Anakin crashes and burns and 
> 
> Padmé loves him.


End file.
